Long Live
by chewinggumandpencils
Summary: A one-shot based off of Taylor Swift's song Long Live. Told in Remus' POV. Part of my ongoing project to write a one-shot for every song on the Speak Now album.


_A/N: Hai guys! Here's the one-shot for Long Live. This one was kind of difficult to write. I had lots of ideas, but all of them made me really sad. This one is no exception, but for some reason this scenario was a lot easier to put myself in._

_No, I do not own Harry Potter or Taylor Swift. I only own my imagination._

_This is in Remus' POV. It should be obvious, but it takes place during the final battle._

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><p>They always said your life flashed before your eyes right as you were dying. I never believed it.<p>

I'd been distracted. I was dueling two Death Eaters when I saw her fall. Nymphadora. She hated that name. I loved it. I loved her. We were fighting together. I watched her die. My heart broke. I reached my hand out, just wanting to grab hers. I was distracted for an instant, watching her die. It was enough for them. One of them shot a Killing curse at me. I saw it coming.

Then I realized that they had been wrong. Your life didn't flash before your eyes. Only the parts worth remembering did.

All those times that little voice in the back of my head had said this was worth remembering. Most of them were things I'd managed to forget anyway. But I remembered them then, when I really needed them.

I remembered the day they took me in. I'd been separating myself from everyone, since I knew no one would want to be friends with a werewolf. What was the point of becoming friends with anyone if they would hate you if you slipped up just once? So I isolated myself. Prongs insisted on taking me in. I think Padfoot wanted to as well, but he wanted to create a sort of aloof reputation, so he let Prongs take all the credit. Prongs didn't mind. They took me in and insisted on being friends. Wormtail was always happy just to have friends.

I remembered the day they found out. I immediately started packing, thinking of how to explain to Dumbledore that I'd failed him, that my secret had slipped out somehow. They stopped me. They decided I was an idiot for thinking they would leave me. I remember Prongs' words exactly. _"Remus, you may be bright, but sometimes you are an idiot. We're not letting you leave. You are our friend. Why would we desert you?" _I remember thinking it was just childish innocence, that they would leave me once they realized what being a werewolf really meant in the world. But they didn't.

I remembered all the pranks we played. I remembered being in the Great Hall after a prank, right after we changed all the teachers' cloaks bright pink or right after we made the stars on the ceiling turn into fireworks in the middle of dinner or right after whatever silly thing we'd done. I remember everyone going wild, laughter bouncing off the walls. We were admired. They would whisper our names as they talked about our latest prank. We were the kings of the school. Everyone knew who we were.

I remembered those times when it felt like the world was ours. Those times that we talked our way out of detention or made Minerva smile or sat in silence around a tree. Those times that felt like they would never end, that felt like the stars were shining just for us.

I remembered all those silly things we did. I remembered them all, from befriending the Giant Squid to fighting that baby dragon in Care of Magical Creatures.

I remembered the night they become animagi. I'd told them not to do it, not that they'd really told me. It wasn't too difficult to figure out. After all, Padfoot never went to the library and suddenly he had tons of library books on animagi. They weren't really subtle. I told them I wasn't worth it. They hadn't listened to me. They were so proud. I was so proud. I couldn't believe that they loved me enough to do that for me. I had cried that night.

I remembered every accomplishment. We'd never taken credit for our pranks. If people asked us, we just brushed it off or changed the topic. People knew, but we never said it. I remembered all those nights we spent looking up spells to help us turn the school upside down or switch House robes for a day or whatever silly thing we'd come up with. People didn't think we could do half the things we did. They would scream "This is absurd!" when they saw what we'd done. It was mostly Slytherins, of course. They never believed that four friends, four troublemakers could momentarily rule the world.

I remember the night before we graduated. We turned the Great Hall into a night club during dinner. Almost everyone stayed and danced. The four of us danced, Lily, Marlene, Mary, Alice, and Frank joining us. The nine of us were the last ones dancing. We stayed there all night, dancing like maniacs. It was as if we knew it was our last night to be young. We couldn't waste it.

I remembered the original Order. We spent all our time fighting, wishing for a battle that would end it all. Wishing for right now. They would never get to see it.

I remembered falling in love with Nymphadora. I denied it as long as I could, but she was like Prongs. She refused to let me go just because I'd given up on myself. I always knew that Padfoot and Prongs would be proud of me. Padfoot might have a talk with me for falling for his baby cousin, but he would be proud. Neither of them would have wanted me to shut myself off from her forever. That's one of the reasons I let myself fall. I did it for them.

I remembered the night Teddy was born. My dear son. I had never thought I'd be able to be a father. Holding him for the first time had been one of the greatest moments of my life. I'd almost given up on him, like I did with any good thing in my life. I hadn't deserved him. But there he was, my son. He would get to have a better life. I had been so relieved when I realized he was mine that I momentarily forgot to worry. Nymphadora had been so happy.

I remembered the night Lily and Prongs became heroes. Prongs had always wanted to be remembered. We all had. That night was the end of everything we'd had.

I remember a night a few months before then. Wormtail, Padfoot, and I were visiting Lily and Prongs and Harry. Harry was asleep and the five of us were talking. In this moment, I remembered that conversation more clearly than ever. Padfoot, in a rare act of sentimentality, had asked us if we'd stand by him no matter what. All of us immediately reassured him. There was a moment of silence. I never forgot what he said next.

"_I know we can't guarantee the future. You all promise to stand by me and by each other, but I know nothing is guaranteed. But if something happens, something that forces us apart, makes us say goodbye, there's just one thing I want you to promise me. Promise me that if either of you two have children one day or when Harry's grown up, tell them about me. If they find pictures, tell them who I was. Tell them who we were. Tell them how people laughed at our latest prank and how people cheered when we threw a party after losing a game of Quidditch. Tell them I hope they feel that some day. I hope they feel what we felt. Just tell them about us, the Marauders. Make us remembered."_

I'd broken that promise. It had been too difficult to talk to Harry about his parents, about us.

We were remembered. I may have failed, but Hogwarts had come through. These walls that were crumbling around me held our memories. It knew about us. Our lives were etched into these stones, guarded by these walls. Most of the best moments of my life happened here. They were characterized by these walls, by the trees, by the rooms. Hogwarts held all my memories. It remembered.

Harry had the map. Harry had the cloak. He was fighting for everything we stood for. We were remembered.

All these memories flooded through my head as the spell came towards me. I couldn't react. But it was ok. I would get to be with them again. Somehow, our legacy had continued. One day, we were going to be remembered.

My hand reached Nymphadora's right as the spell hit me. We fell together.

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><p><em>AN: So, what did you think? I would really appreciate reviews on this one because, out of the ones I've written so far, this is the one I've been the most insecure about. Thanks!_

_Also, on my profile there's a poll that lets you vote on which Speak Now one-shot you want me to write next. If you like these one-shots, go vote!_

_P.S. Sorry for posting this several times, it kept messing up. I finally got it to work, so this is the last post, I promise._


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